"No! Absolutely not!" exclaimed a stunning woman with mesmerizing purple hair and alluring scarlet eyes. "If Mom ever found out, she would kill him, you, and me, so count me out."
"Oh, don't exaggerate," said another beautiful woman with green hair and tantalizing green eyes that seemed to pierce through the world. "Nothing of the sort will happen."
These two women were none other than Alex and Lilia's daughters, Alice and Scarlett. They were currently inside the once library, now transformed into Scarlett's room, seated across from each other with tea in hand.
Scarlett snorted at her sister's reply. "Oh, believe me, she may very well do it. Did you forget about her warning?"
"Nope, but I'm determined," Alice answered with a light smile on her face.
Scarlett didn't immediately respond, regarding her sister as if she were some kind of madwoman. "I always had doubts that you were a pervert, but I never thought you were that much of a pervert."
Alice's lips twitched in irritation at being called a pervert, but she maintained her smile. She took a sip of tea and questioned, "So, are you going to help me or not?"
Scarlett remained silent for a while, then shrugged. "It depends. I may or may not help you," she said. "So, what could you possibly give me that's worth putting my life in danger in such a way?"
'Gotcha,' Alice thought to herself.
She perfectly understood her sister's character and knew that she would ask for something in return once she felt that the help she was about to provide might cost her something, and given what she had asked for help with, Alice knew that there's no way she wouldn't ask for something in return.
Fortunately, Alice knew exactly what would tempt her.
"If you accept, I will let you study my captivating eyes," she said, pointing to her mesmering emerald orbs.
"Really?!!!" Scarlett's eyes widened in surprise before a wide smile spread across her face. "DEAL!" she declared a moment later, seemingly accepting Alice's offer without hesitation.
Scarlett had always been curious about how her older sister's eyes worked and what made them special. She was intrigued by their unique abilities that granted Alice unparalleled access to bypass any form of security and peer into anything she desired. So, there was no way she would pass up that opportunity!
'Excellent,' Alice grinned inwardly.
Since the moment she witnessed her dad fight against En and realized that even with her eyes, she couldn't locate him when he was inside smoke, she understood that her eyes weren't as infallible as she thought. So Alice began to conduct her own research, attempting to find the limits of her eyes and how to circumvent these limitations.
At that moment, she had the idea to ask Scarlett for help, but then realized that instead of asking for assistance outright, she could leverage it as an opportunity to manipulate her sister into fulfilling another favor. She knew very well that Scarlett wouldn't resist the temptation to try to understand more about her eyes. Thus, she presented the pretext of allowing Scarlett to study her eyes as a means to persuade her to agree to help in return.
However she looked at it, it was a win-win situation for her. She would learn more about herself while getting her sister to help her with something she would have typically refused to assist with, for free that is.
"Come on, let's start right-"
"Impossible," Alice interrupted the excited Scarlett, "I have other things to do."
"Like what?" Scarlett inquired.
"Well, since mom and aunt Anna aren't left, I'm the one who is in charge of managing everything," Alice explained.
Despite being the firstborn of them all, Viviane was a little bit too carefree and only cared about either painting or sparring. Scarlett never emerged from her room, the library, while Violette was deemed too young to be entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating the servants and maids.
Therefore, Alice was the only one Lilia could entrust with managing everything.
"I understand. We can start another day," Scarlett said, the excited gleam still very present in her eyes.
"I must warn you, though," Alice's expression turned serious. "If anything sharp comes near my eyes, I won't hesitate to reveal what you do at the beginning of each month to everyone."
The moment the threat escaped Alice's lips, Scarlett's cheeks tinged with a faint pink hue. "You creep! Now I understand how you knew about dad and Aunt Anna, you spied on them, no, you spy on everyone!" Scarlett exclaimed.
"First of all," Alice looked disapprovingly at her sister, "stop referring to Aunt Anna as 'the maid'; she is now part of this family, and she always has been, actually."
"Secondly," Alice grinned mischievously, "if I possess eyes that grant me the ability to see wherever I desire, why not utilize them?"
"You do realize that what you're saying is seriously creepy, right?" Scarlett retorted.
Alice simply shrugged at her words. "we are all creepy in our own ways."
"Some more than others," Scarlett scoffed.
"If you say so," Alice shrugged once again. "But remember, I did warn you. If anything sharp comes near my eyes and you don't want everyone to know what you do at the-"
"Okay, okay, I heard you the first time," Scarlett cut her off.
"Well, just saying. It might be very embarrassing for you if Dad were to kn-"
"I said that I heard you the first time!" Scarlett snapped. "If you have nothing more to say, then get out of here!"
"I don't understand why you're acting this way," Alice sighed. "I think it would be better to be honest with yourse-"
"OUT!" Scarlett exclaimed once again.
"Fine, fine, I'm leaving," Alice conceded as she rose from her seat. "So aggressive," she muttered under her breath.
Just as she was about to turn to leave, Alice caught sight of a book on the couch Scarlett was sitting on. When she read the book's title, a funny expression couldn't help but form on her face.
"Why are you reading this?" Alice inquired, pointing at the book with a title that boldly proclaimed 'How to not be scammed out of your money by your family!'
"Nothing, just precaution," Scarlett answered.
"Against whom, though?" Alice inquired.
"Some deceitful members of this family," Scarlett replied with a scoff.
"I'm not sure whom you're referring to, but hey, you do you. I'll just head out," Alice remarked.
"Yeah, get out right now," Scarlett demanded.
"You know, there's no need to rush me; I'm already on my way out," Alice remarked to her sister, who was urging her to leave quickly.
"The sooner you depart, the sooner I can get back to my tasks," Scarlett retorted.
Scarlett swung open the door of her room, but just as she was about to usher her sister out, she stopped.
"Oh, what brings you two here?" Alice inquired upon spotting Viviane and Violette standing behind the door.
"What's going on here?" Violette wondered.
"Nothing, she's just leaving," Scarlett said as she pushed Alice out of her room.
However, just as she was about to close the door, Viviane stopped her.
"Wait, do you know where Grandma Candace is?" Viviane inquired.
"She's back in Zindal," answered Scarlett. "Why are you looking for her?"
"I wanted to see if she knew where Grandma Grace went," Viviane explained. "She suddenly disappeared, and I can't seem to find her."
'She's probably avoiding you,' thought Alice, Scarlett, and Violette.
All of them were aware of their eldest sister's habit of asking for a spar from anyone, especially if they were stronger than her, although she didn't exclusively target those stronger than her.
Viviane's expression turned gloomy, realizing that Grace had most likely also left the mansion.
However, an instant later, her expression became bright once again, her ruby eyes igniting with a mischievous light.
"Hey, why don't we spend the day together," Viviane suddenly asked, "it's been a long time since the four of us spent time together."
"Let me guess," Alice interrupted, "you plan to make us spar with you later on, right?"
"That's absolutely not the case!" Viviane exclaimed. "It actually saddens me that you-"
"Cut the crap," Scarlett interjected. "We all know that's the real reason behind your sudden urge to spend time with us."
"Cough, cough," Viviane coughed in embarrassment, seeing that her plan had been discovered.
Scarlett lingered for a moment before nodding. "I'm all for it," she said. "I've been spending months in my room, and I've become a bit rusty. It'll be good to stretch a little bit."